Search form

Art in the Library

In addition to a public gallery (pictured above) that exhibits local artists' work, the Main Library has assembled a collection of art to engage our multicultural community with works that are challenging, intriguing, and enduring. In designing the library, the architects sought to create a series of discoveries. Similarly, these pieces of art are meant to be viewed as a series of visual discoveries as you move through the building.

Building such a collection is a process that continues. Funds raised by the Bricks for Art program and Gala Preview Party prior to the 2003 opening of the Main Library building were instrumental in these purchases, and continued to be raised through a percentage of sales of artwork exhibited in the gallery and through giving to the library. To learn more, contact Library Deputy Director Jim Madigan at jmadigan@oppl.org or 708.697.6909

Art Unveiling: Rennie In Rhapsody

Join us for an unveiling of the newest acquisition to the library’s permanent art collection, entitled Rennie In Rhapsody by Jesse Howard, on Thursday, March 22, from 7:30 to 8:30 pm in the Main Library Community Engagement Space. Join us >

“I started painting about the disenfranchised and the poor. It’s not compromising. It’s right in your face. It’s pretty raw.”—Jesse Howard

Spotlight on Wiley

New York-based visual artist Kehinde Wiley was recently selected to paint President Barack Obama's official presidential portrait, to be added to the presidential portraits wing of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in 2018.

For an in-person look at the artist's earlier work, visit the Main Library's third floor to see Wiley's Easter Realness #2, a jewel in the library's permanent art collection. Purchased in 2004 from the Rhona Hoffman Gallery in Chicago, the painting now overlooks the Main Library’s third-floor study rooms.

Framed in gilded gold, the painting’s vivid colors evoke the candy-colored dresses and suits that might be worn to an Easter mass. The men in Wiley’s painting, however, wear casual urban clothing—lug-soled boots, hooded sweatshirts, and baggy jeans—and seem to float in a background of robin’s-egg blue.

Wiley, whose paintings have been featured on the Fox drama Empire, and who was one of seven artists to receive a 2015 U.S. State Department Medal of Arts, blurs the line between traditional and modern in his work, borrowing from Old Master paintings, hip-hop, French rococo, and West African textile design. According to Wiley’s website, his paintings “quote historical sources and position young black men within the field of power.” In his Easter Realness series, Wiley asked random strangers from the streets of Harlem to assume their own versions of poses shown in classical European portraits of aristocrats and noblemen.

Art in the Idea Box

In October and November, the Main Library Idea Box became home to artist-student learning and collaboration for kids in grades 6-12. Oak Park native and artist Jon Veal, our second artist in residence, focused on the visual arts and music. As he ended his residency this fall with a collaborative mural and exhibit in the Idea Box, Veal shared these thoughts with us:

"Art is voice. I use the subjective medium as leverage for something that is more than just a gesture. ...

"Sometimes in a large institution, because of the politics of space, voice is not always heard. That is why a public mural, a collaborative effort, is so important. It's that moment when you raise the barn with your neighbors or tear down a wall in Berlin. It's mark making that empowers and defines a generation."